Chesterfield 4-1 Wycombe Wanderers – League 2

On 1st March 2011 I was back at the B2Net Stadium to watch Chesterfield play Wycombe in a first versus second place title clash.

I was eagerly looking forward to this match which was a rearranged fixture after the original game was postponed due to bad weather on 28th December 2010.
Chesterfield went into this match top of the table on 62 points with Wycombe in second place on 56. However Wycombe have a game in hand so a defeat today would have left just a three point gap and a chance of Wanderers drawing level if they won the other game so tonights match would be a real six pointer.

It was a cool but pleasant evening and before the match I met up with a couple of loyal Wycombe fans Russell Cox and Paul McLoud who had made the long journey from Buckinghamshire to be at tonights game. They chatted with me and my Dad for a while and we had some photos taken together.It’s always nice to meet fellow supporters and they were both very friendly.

Before kick off the atmosphere was building up nicely with many of the 6,392 attendance creating plenty of noise. I met Martin Allen who was working for Sky Sports and was just behind where I was sat,he was friendly and I had a photo taken with him.

The teams came out and a suprise to many supporters was the inclusion of the influential Dean Morgan who was returning back to the side after two months on the sidelines due to injury.
Right from the start Chesterfield put Wycombe under intense pressure and most of the football was being played in Wycombe’s half.It took until the 28th minute for the deadlock to be broken when Dean Smalley struck the ball home after a corner to give the Spiretites the lead.

The pace of the game and the constant attacking by the Spireites started to cause Wycombe to lose their discipline and goalkeeper Nikki Bull became the third Wanderers player to receive a yellow card for kicking the ball out of the ground after being upset about Chesterfield being awarded a penalty after Alan Bennet had dragged down Jack Lester.Danny Whittaker then stepped up to take the penalty and scored to give Chesterfield a 2-0 lead after just 36 minutes which they held until half time.

For the second half Chesterfield kicked off towards the Kop end and the half was only one minute old when Jack Lester got the ball and cut inside three defenders before beating the goalkeeper on the near post.This was a real quality goal by the veteran striker showing his class in putting Chesterfield into a 3-0 lead, and putting the game almost beyond Wycombe’s reach.

Chesterfield continued to create chances but there were no more goals until in the 80th minute Jon-Paul Pittman forced the ball home from close range for Wycombe to reduce the deficit.

Just seven minutes later though Chesterfield scored a fourth when leading goalscorer Craig Davies struck the ball home after substitute Scott Boden had laid the ball in his path.

Overall this was the best performance I have seen for The Spireites this season and it completed a double over our nearest rivals.So at the end of tonight Chesterfield are 9 points clear and surely the title of League 2 Champions becomes more likely with every game.

After the match I met the Wycombe manager Gary Waddock and their star player Gareth Ainsworth who was really friendly. I also managed to get a picture with Chesterfield’s on loan defender Scott Griffiths.